Overdose deaths from all drugs, including non-opioids, stood at 63,600 last year, an increase of 21 percent over the 2015 number. Given that research has shown that the official figures could be undercounting the true number of opioid deaths by 20 percent or more, “we could easily be at 50,000 opioid deaths last year,” Humphreys said. “It's hard to take in.”On deaths from synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, “we're talking about more than an exponential increase,” Anderson added. Men (26 deaths per 100,000) are about twice as likely to die of a drug overdose as women (13 per 100,000). “This is no longer an opioid crisis,” said Patrick Kennedy, a former Rhode Island congressman who was a member of President Trump's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis.

Source: Washington Post December 21, 2017 05:03 UTC